Ending Veteran Homelessness in Asheville and Buncombe County

Mayor Esther Manheimer has signed on to the Mayors’ Challenge to End Veteran Homelessness by the end of 2015, a program initiated earlier in the year by First Lady Michelle Obama.

Ending veteran homelessness means reaching the point where there are no veterans sleeping on our streets and every veteran has access to permanent housing.

The Mayor’s Challenge is a call to action – announced by First Lady Michelle Obama earlier this year, and has received support from the Departments of Housing and Urban Development, Veteran’s Affairs (VA), US Interagency Council on Homelessness, and by the National League of Cities. The challenge is for mayors to make a commitment to ending Veteran homelessness in their cities by 2015.

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Increasing access to permanent housing in Buncombe County occurs through a collaborative partnership that includes the Asheville-Buncombe Homeless Initiative, the VA, the Housing Authority, Asheville-Buncombe Community Christian Ministries, and Homeward Bound of Western North Carolina.

In the coming months, this collaborative will be focusing on strengthening its plan to address all forms of homelessness among veterans. This plan will include rapid re-housing strategies to ensure a quick transition back into safe, stable and sustainable housing for veterans and their families who have become homeless, as well as prevention strategies to ensure housing stability for those imminently at risk of homelessness.

“The Asheville-Buncombe community took on the challenge of ending chronic homelessness by 2015 when the 10 Year Plan was adopted,” said Veterans Administration Homeless Programs coordinator Allison Bond. “Because of strong, collaborative partnerships, creative solutions, and now Mayor Manheimer’s endorsement of the Mayor’s Challenge, we are on track to achieve ending veteran homelessness by the end of 2015 as well.”